


Subtly Helping

by kayley



Series: Fixing It My Way [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Season/Series 03, Season/Series 03 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-12
Updated: 2015-10-22
Packaged: 2018-04-25 23:58:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4981774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kayley/pseuds/kayley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Coulson commented during Purpose in the Machine (S03E02) that Morse was helping Fitz with his investigation all along. This is a fix it showing some of how she did it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I see Bobbi Morse as a big sister to FitzSimmons, so when one is missing how does she react? This fic is pure speculation but it is an attempt to fix the big gaps from the time jump between season 2's finale and the premiere of season 3.

Been sent to the lab to work while rehabilitating wasn’t a bad option for Bobbi, regardless that she knew some people might see it as a punishment. If there was one place more comfortable to Bobbi than fighting for her life, it was being situated in a lab and running through various scientific procedures. People tended to forget her training was in more than martial arts.

Like Fitz. When she was first assigned there, she knew he thought it was to stop him from doing something stupid; to make him have to babysit her so he would forget about running off to solve what happened to Simmons. It took a week for him to realise that she could do what he was asking her and more. Then it took another two weeks for her to earn his trust that she would back him and cover for him. Then he started discussing options with her. Theories. Plans. Whatever he thought of that could bring his Jemma back to him. She would keep the lab running for him, be his confident, and mentor him when needed. 

*

“Morse,” she answered the lab phone.

“Have you seen Fitz?” Coulson asked her. She hadn’t seen him all morning, but she could buy him some time since he’d promised he’d be in before 1pm.

“Yes sir, he’s doing some testing now on Inhuman DNA. Did you need to speak to him, though? The testing shouldn’t be interrupted until completion as the results might vary.”

“Can you get him to call me when he finishes?”

“Certainly Sir,” she replied before scribbling down a note to remind her about what she had told him. She wanted to make sure that Fitz had a cover in place when he called.

*

She avoided Hunter, changed the topic when Mack tried to work out where Fitz was, deflected Coulson and Daisy onto another Inhuman discussion. She terrified the other lab workers, ensuring they would be too scared of her to report Fitz’s disappearance for days from the lab.

She taught Fitz how to improve his fighting skills, his shooting skills. She might not be able to be there to protect but damnit, she was going to try. She sent encoded messages to May, letting her know what was happening, where Fitz was, allowing May to shadow and protect one of her charges without Coulson knowing. No one knew that May was pissed to have not been contacted over Simmons, except for Bobbi.

*

“Why do I need to keep doing this?” Fitz complained as he lay on the ground panting.

“I need to make sure your hand to hand is good enough for you to get out of most situations,” she told him. “If you hunt down a lead somewhere dangerous, I want to know you can survive for as long as it takes for back up to arrive.”

She deliberately didn’t say Calvary because she knew what most people in SHIELD thought of when they heard that, regardless if she was coming to save the day or not. She couldn’t give away May’s secret of watching over him.  
*

Fitz didn’t realise that he had a shadow. Nor that he had one of the best agents protecting him from afar. If anything did happen, May would swoop in to save her charge. Bobbi referred to her as being a momma bear; May agreed reluctantly.

And if all else failed, Bobbi would call in the two other people she trusted to go above and beyond to rescue one of hers. People forgot that before Lance, there had been Clint. And that despite their bad break up, Barton would always come running if she called. And Romanov would be only steps behind.

*

“What do you want Bobbi?” Clint asked her when she called.

“I need someone watched, kept safe,” she told him, taking a chance on contacting him at this stage, knowing he was out of action for a period of time.

“Who and where?” he asked almost abruptly. “And you better not say Hunter.”

“One of my scientists. I’ve sent you the details,” she replied, ignoring the comment about her recent ex-husband from her previous ex-husband. “Can you do it?”

“Should be able to, Bob. I’ll message you if there’s any issue.”

*

Hawkeye, Mockingbird and Black Widow. The team had only lasted for a short while, before she had been sent into long term undercover and the other two joined Coulson in Strike Team Delta. But they had each other’s backs, even all this time later.

Bobbi wasn’t going to allow one of hers to fall, after she failed the other. Despite not being in the room when the stone had taken Jemma, Bobbi felt responsible. If she hadn’t had fallen sway to Gonzales, then there would have been no reason for Skye’s mother to have attacked SHIELD. Because when it all came down to it, the infraction between “real” SHIELD and SHIELD had opened the cracks for all of this to happen.

*

“Bobbi,” Fitz whispered to her, looking around to see who was within earshot. She turned to look at him and shook her head.

“Way to act suspicious Fitz. Stop looking around. Just pretend that I’ve pissed you off and pull me into your office.”

He stared at her and then blinked. In a matter of seconds, she could see a mask drop over his face and he took a deep breath.

“Morse, if you are going to insinuate that you are a better scientist than Simmons, you better have something that can back you up!”

Keeping her face straight, she played her part.

“Well, I figure if someone didn’t bother to check that the monolith was secure… I mean, all good scientists make sure that all dangerous or unknown experiences are treated with utmost respect.”

“My office, now!” he yelled and stormed off.

She meekly walked towards his office, listening to the whispers amongst the scientists. Fitz was earning a lot of praise for his treatment of her. Excellent. They would continue to keep a blind eye to what he was doing. 

She entered his office and shut the door, holding a finger up to stop him speaking. Mouthing “bugs” to him, she gave him time to allow the dwarfs to sweep over the office.

“Clear. Sorry about the accusation, Bobbi. It was the first thing that came to mind.”

“It’s okay, Fitz. It was an effective one. I know you don’t believe it,” she said to make sure that he knew she wouldn’t hold it against him. “So what’s up?”

“I’ve got a new lead but…” he stopped, looking down at his desk as he shook his head. Almost like he was defeated.

“But it’s dangerous?” she guessed.

“Yeah. Very.”

“Okay, what do you need?”

“You know the Hydra weapons? The ones that dissolve people?”

“Yeah?” she replied hesitantly, not liking where this was going.

“Can you help me make realistic looking replicas?”

“Definitely.” That put her mind to ease. Replicas weren’t dangerous. Not that she thought he would use the real ones, but he was so desperate to get Jemma back, that sometimes she wondered if he had thought to turn to a darker place.

He breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t know when he had begun to trust her but he did. And she seemed the only other person who hadn’t given up on Jemma. Who respected his ideas in ways to bring her back.

“So where are you going? And when? You promised to always give me an itinerary.”

“I’ll give you the details when we have a better idea for when the replicas are made. But I’m going to Morroco.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Big sister Bobbi Morse is trying to help Jemma Simmons deal with the aftermath of her ordeal while keeping it from Fitz.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place from the end of S03E03 and through S03E04. Includes some dialogue from the episodes.

After Jemma announced she wanted to go back, Bobbi was shocked but quickly analysed it. Jemma had avoided confirming what they had all assumed. She avoided saying it was a hell hole. Instead she said it was void of fauna... so what was back there that she needed to find out?

“Have you told this to anyone else?” she asked gently.

“N-no,” was the quiet reply.

“So what do you need me to do?” she prodded, making up her mind with what to do.

Jemma stared at her, unsure of exactly what she was asking.

“I assume you are going to do this one way or another, right? And you're smart enough to find the answer on how to do it... so how can I help?”

A flash of relief washed over Jemma's face before it shifted to panic.

“Please don't tell anyone. I... I need to know I can trust you not to say anything,” Jemma rushed the reply.

“Of course, it's between you and me. When you are close to working it out, then we can discuss what we're telling the others but for now... for now there is no problems with that.”

“Thank you.”

*

She could see the strain on Fitz's face and he slowly pieced together the change in Jemma. He asked Bobbi if she knew what was happening but as she promised Jemma, not once did she let on about it.

When she could, she gently probed for more information from Jemma. She made sure she was sleeping, eating as much as she could without mothering her.

She continued to keep May in the loop about things at SHIELD and Simmons' recovery but again never told her of her concerns about Jemma heading back to that world.

She just hoped that Jemma would talk to someone soon.

*

“What's all this? Data on the Monolith? Schematics? There's notes all over this in Simmons' handwriting. Seismic mounts. Cry...” Fitz started, becoming more concerned the more he flipped through the folder.

“What are you doing?!” Jemma's voice cut into his ever increasing confusion.

“Jemma, I'm just trying to...” Fitz tried to defend himself, only to be cut off.

“No, don't.”

The folder spilled to the floor, spilling all the documents across it. More pages than Bobbi had believed she had seen Jemma collate.

“Look, those are mine, and now they're all out of order. And you...” Jemma spun to look at Bobbi. “What did you tell him?” 

“Jemma, relax. We're... We're just analyzing the Inhuman's DNA,” Bobbi said soothly, trying to calm her down. Noticing the agitated way Jemma was picking up the documents again.

“All this data ... what's it for?” Fitz asked, his confusion clear as he looked at Jemma.

“Look, just stay away from my things,” Jemma said as she stormed off with the documents. 

“What just happened? Wha... Did she say something to you?” Fitz asked looking at Bobbi.

“It should come from her,” she replied almost defeatly.

*

The division between Jemma and Fitz was grating at her. She hated seeing the two of them at odds with one another. It was so unfair that the two of them had to go through so much hardship. Bobbi knew that neither of them would have survived in tact if it wasn't for the other, but they kept missing their chances. She had to do something to make sure that they didn't throw away too much time.

Plus Fitz was almost back to not trusting her again and it hurt. They had built up a good dynamic but now he knew she was hiding something that was affecting the way that Jemma was healing; and it was rapidly pulling down the walls.

*

“I'm sorry I snapped before,” Jemma apologised to Bobbi. 

“No apology necessary,” Bobbi replied truthfully.

“I thought you told Fitz what I told you, and I...” she continued the apology.

“Jemma, seriously, stop,” Bobbi cut her off. “I mean, here I am, complaining to you, after what you've been through. Have you told anyone else that you want to go back? You might want to. There's someone in particular who's really worried about you.”

Jemma sighed as she replied, “I wonder who that might be.”

*

“It's time I told you the truth... about everything,” Jemma's voice softly came through the door and Bobbi eased back. She didn't need to listen in. She had just wanted to make sure the two of them were talking.

Regardless of what Jemma told Fitz, Bobbi would be there for them. She had more than enough issues to deal with after hearing what had happened between Ward and May. Someone had to be there for May and she didn't trust Coulson not to force May into moving forward too quickly.


End file.
